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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Some children complained that they are bored at school. Usually they are telling that they don’t enjoy the topic or skill that they are learning or less classroom activities. Complaint like these must be taken into actions because it can lead to real distress and can even lead to school avoidance or school refusal behaviors. Some of the reasons why kids are bored at school are:

1. Under-Challenged - Intelligent students who don’t need a lot of instruction to master a skill or start out ahead of the rest of the class often complain of being bored at school. What they’re really telling is they are not being challenged by the work in the classroom. Under-challenged students are typically very capable and very smart but surprisingly these children don’t always present that way. They become sloppy in their work, don’t even study but still they get good grades.

2. Under-Motivated -Under-motivated students also complain of being bored in school, but not because they already know what’s being taught. This complaint is different. Often “school is boring” is paired with “that’s why I don’t do the work” or “that’s why I don’t pay attention.”An under-motivated child is not the same as a lazy child. Cases like the lack of motivation is tied in to a feeling that what he’s learning isn’t personally important, that the learning process has no meaning for him and his life. For other children it could be the sign of an underlying issue, like childhood depression, ADHD, or other learning disability.

3. Under-Connected - Children who have trouble connecting with their peers and/or their teacher may be bored in school because they feel lonely. If your child hasn’t built a comfortable relationship with anyone in his classroom, he may feel as he has nowhere to turn to when he needs help. What he needs is the sense of belongingness.

4. Under-Skilled - Not all students are gifted with the skills that they need to become successful in the classroom. The bottom line is that if a child is saying he’s bored because he doesn’t know how to study for the tests, create plans or paragraphs but what he really means is “I don’t know how to do this, so I don’t even want to try.”

Your children maybe experiencing getting bored at school but before jumping a conclusions you should discover what your child is really telling you. They may have other problems at school. That's why communication is very important between parent and children.